A Kung Fu Panda Christmas
by Shadow Wolfboy
Summary: A one shot that I thought up of when first hearing about the Christmas Special. After seeing it, I began to write this, hope you enjoy it! PoXTigress


Po bit his tongue to keep himself from cursing, he couldn't believe that he had actually forgotten ingredients! Why? Of all days? He knew that it was Christmas eve, but couldn't the food at least make it easier for him like any other day? But no, of course not. He wanted to make this special for the Five, Shifu, and his dad. He sighed and put the ingredients down on the counter. The party didn't start till later on in the day, but it didn't hurt to start early. But so far, he wasn't making any progress. He planned to make a special type of soup he had thought of himself, he tasted it and found it satisfactory after a couple of unsuccessful attempts. The soup, maybe a pumpkin pie, definitely a peach pie which he made already, perhaps cranberry? But right now, he was focused on the 'Strawberry-Melon' soup and was determined to make the dessert the best ever.

Following the old family recipe, he started to chop up the melons into cubes, along with the cantaloupe. He dumped the cubes in two separate small bowls and set the melon pieces aside. He took a small saucepan and poured the mixed pineapple juice, sugar and ginger and stirred it till the sugar dissolved, then reduced the heat. He let it simmer, uncovered, over medium heat for the next 5 to 7 minutes.

In a large bowl he stirred a fruit paste **(A/N: Yogurt) **with soured cream and set it aside. He cut strawberries in half and set them into another bowl, walking back over to the stove and carefully lifting the pan off the burner and putting it on the table on top of a oven mat. He let it cool for a few seconds before stirring it all together and, once he was sure that everything was mixed evenly, he placed the wrapped bowl in the icebox next to the Peach Pie.

He sighed and his nerves calmed as he let the lingering aroma fill his head. He closed his eyes, thinking to himself. He planned to give Monkey another staff after his snapped during their last training session, this one made out of mahogany straight from the proud village of 'Arkoma' way out east. His uncle Rai had made it especially for the Master of the Monkey Style of Kung Fu, and it barely cost him at all. It paid to have a master crafter in the family, Po smiled. Mantis… was kind of hard to shop for. So he just settled on getting him a new acupuncture kit complete with the notes from the master of acupuncture himself, which was quite the find. He had bought it from a lone wolf who was struggling to get by with his wife and kids. Po couldn't just walk past without buying at least one thing, so he paid him double for what he wanted for it and knew he had made the Wolf's day.

Viper, he bought a special ribbon and sewn on one side was 'Graceful Dancer' in Chinese. On the other side was Viper's Father's name, in memory of his recent passing. She would definitely use it the next time she performed at the 'Flurry of Dancing Ribbons' contest. Crane's was calligraphy materials and a new hat to replace the one that was destroyed on their last mission. The hat had the Chinese characters for. Master Shifu, his was special. He sent Master Oogway's staff to his uncle Rai and after a few days of waiting, Po received a new and reinforced staff very true to the original. The staff may replace the broken one, but it can never replace the memories it held for Oogway and Shifu. His father, a mahjong set to replace the one that had fallen off the shelf and broken after so many years of being played on. Tigress'… Hers was extremely special. And no, it wasn't a ring. It was-

"Need any help, Po?"

The Dragon Warrior's eyes snapped open, and his gaze flicked to the doorway where- lo and behold- Tigress stood.

"Tigress," he grinned widely. "How are you today?"

"Fine," Tigress replied with a smile. "And yours?"

"Better," Po replied, and Tigress raised an eyebrow. "I actually do need some help,"

Tigress nodded and walked into the kitchen to stand next to him. Po was well aware of her next to him as he explained what he needed they to do. Having her next to him, the beauty that radiated off of her, the scent that flowed into his nose, her voice as she spoke was soft and smooth as silk. She stared at him, and at first he was too wrapped up in his thoughts to contemplate why she was staring. But he shook his head, and apologized.

Tigress waved it off and nodded at the basket on the counter next to him. Po picked it up and accompanied her out the kitchen, and into the tournament area where the rest of the Five were sparring. At the sight of the Po and Tigress, they stopped and, after bowing to their partners, greeted them.

"So, Po?" Mantis said. "Taking Tigress on a picnic?"

Po's cheeks burned. "Nah, I forgot to get some ingredients for the dinner for tonight and Tigress volunteered to come along,"

Po was even more embarrassed when he saw Tigress trying to hide a laugh.

"Taking me out on a picnic, Dragon Warrior?" She asked, not even trying to fight a smile.

"Sure, of course he is," Mantis chuckled, nudging Crane with one of his… thingies, Crane smiled and shook his head. But Mantis was knocked over the head by Viper's tail.

"Shush," She said.

She directed her attention back to the pair. "So, how's it coming so far?"

"Eh, I just still can't believe that I forgot the ingredients," Po admitted.

The Four nodded and after a few more pleasantries, Po and Tigress continued on their way, passing through the giant doors that secured the Jade Palace. Po noted that it began to snow lightly, and that there was ice on top of the steps. He handed the basket to Tigress.

"Hold that for a second," he said.

He carefully tried to step over the ice, but old man winter or whatever must have anticipated it, because he slipped on the ice on the second step. That caused him to start bouncing down the steps, just like the first day and any other time he fell down the stairs, it hurt but he was getting used to it.

"Po!" Tigress yelled.

She shook her head, jumping over the ice and, with the basket in her teeth, running down the stairs on all fours. In a matter of seconds, she intercepted the bouncing black and white blur and helped Po steady himself on the ice free steps.

"You alright?" she asked.

Po was silent for a second, lightheaded. "Yeah… Just a little dizzy,"

He shook his head, but then clutched it. "Yeah, dizzy, but I'm getting used to it,"

"Thanks," he said.

"Be a bit more careful next time, it wouldn't pay for you to get hurt on Christmas Eve," Tigress replied, Po taking the basket and she began following Po down the rest of the stairs.

As they entered the village below, Po smiled. It was alive with activity. Rabbits, Geese, and other residents of the village were bustling around their houses trying to set up all of their last minute decorations. Two rabbits, he assumed were father and son, hung up a paper lantern that was painted with their family on it. He nodded and smiled to a few of his neighbors that passed and said 'Hi'.

"Man, it's so beautiful around this time of year, don't you think?" He asked Tigress as they stepped into 'Mr. Hong's' store.

Tigress nodded. "Especially if you spend it with those that you love,"

Po nodded as he looked at the small list he brought with him.

"So what did you get everyone?" Tigress asked.

"Monkey, a new staff made of mahogany," Po said. "Viper, a ribbon with 'Graceful Dancer' and her father's name sewn on it. Mantis, new acupuncture set and with some special notes. Crane, a new hat to replace his smashed one and calligraphy materials. My dad and Master Shifu another Mahjong board, and for Master Shifu I got my Uncle Rai to repair and reinforce Master Oogway's staff,"

Tigress let out a low whistle. "And how exactly did you afford all this? I know that money is of no importance sometimes, but it seems like it would have cost you a fortune,"

"Nothing is too good for my friends," Po smiled. "Well, Monkey and Oogway's staffs my Uncle Rai made. The acupuncture kit I bought from a wolf who was trying to raise money for his family, I gave him double what he wanted out of kindness," Tigress gave him a smile at that. "Crane's wasn't that much to begin with, but it took me a while to write the characters on it. Viper's, was just a regular ribbon I had until I took it next door to Mrs. Hua to have the characters sewn. The Mahjong board, actually, I found in the attic and thought to give it to them,"

"Through kindness and family, that's how I could afford all the gifts," Po answered her question.

"Kindness, Po," Tigress said. "Is one of your many admirable traits,"

Po smiled, putting a hand on her shoulder. "As it is yours,"

"And me?" Tigress asked with a small smirk.

"You? I- Hey! No cheating!" Po shook his head, smiling.

Tigress chuckled. "So close,"

"You'll have to wait like everyone else," Po told her.

He looked at his list and found that he had all but one ingredient, which the store didn't have. And the only one who did have it was his dad.

As he and Tigress left the shop, they were getting ready to drop by at Mr. Ping's until one of the residents came running up to them.

"Dragon Warrior! Master Tigress! Come quick! There's a group of bandits by the bridge!" the rabbit said, out of breath from his sprint.

"On Christmas?" Po asked incredulously, shaking his head.

He looked at Tigress, who nodded, and both ran off towards the bridge. As they neared it, they heard crying of a child.

"Give it back!"

They reached the bridge and found the bandits running into houses and taking the presents, leaving people in shock and sadness. Po looked back to Tigress, another nod. He handed her the basket, and they both ran at the boars.

"Really?" Po asked as he tackled one of the boars to the ground. "Can you guys go any lower?"

**(A/N: "**Defeat the Ten Bandits and retrieve the Presents while protecting the Basket!" Sound a bit familiar? ^-^)**

He jumped onto of the boar that was knocked to the ground, and broke his neck, paralyzing him.

"Po!" Tigress shouted.

She tossed the basket to him as she dodged a fist that slammed into the ground where she stood only seconds before. She leapt and gave a spinning kick to the jaw, causing the huge boar to stumble back, but that didn't stop him. If there was anything she learned while facing opponents larger than herself, it was to use their own weight against them. As the fist neared her, she grabbed the limb and flung the boar right past her. As the boar hit the ground, the wind was knocked out of him and he didn't get up. That was the thing, the bigger boars were more likely to tire out faster than the smaller ones. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the rest of the Five join the fight and it quickly turned to their favor.

They played a game of catch with the basket as they dodged and countered the boars. And with each one that fell, they retrieved another present. Soon there were only three left. They were, possibly, more trained and well rested than the others and were also, probably, only used as a last resort.

The trio took their fighting stances, as did the Five and Po. This was going to be interesting…

"First of all, why?" Po asked.

"Why indeed?" one of the boars replied. "Lately, our leader has gone funny in the head and we end up stealing ludicrous items,"

"'Ludicrous'?" Po repeated. "Celebrating a time with your family and friends, that's what you call 'Ludicrous?"

The trio shrugged. "The only family we have are our comrades, we already spend time together and that's all,"

"Enough talk," one of the boars said. "Let's fight!"

That confused Po, but sayings like that must have been all around China even before his dream months ago.

The boar in front of the one that spoke waved his hand, bringing it up, pointing two fingers up at the sky. And then made a slashing motion downwards and with that, _every_ boar vanished.

The Five and Po looked around, not dropping their guard. But was surprised that no attack came. Everything was normal once more, except for the marks in the snow, but with all the fresh snow falling it was hard to tell. When no attack came, the Five and Po looked back at the villagers.

Handing all the presents back to the families, all the children smiled. It warmed his heart to see the smiles on their faces, and the parents were grateful that the presents were unharmed.

Po was getting ready to accompany the Five back to the Palace, until he noticed that the Basket was still where he left it.

He shook his head, and walked over to the basket. He bent over to pick it up, but it suddenly smashed into pieces. All the ingredients were smashed, beyond the point of being salvaged. His fists tightened and he slammed his fist pointlessly into the ground. Now he really resisted the urge to swear, it took every fiber of his being to not to.

"Po, it's alright," Tigress said, putting a paw on his shoulder. "We could always make a different soup,"

"You don't understand," Po said. "I wanted to make this very special to all of you, for, you know, being such good friends to me and all. And to thank you for everything,"

"Po," Mantis hopped on his shoulder. "It's you who we need to thank. You've been such a good friend to us, you broke the shells we've built and retrieved the real Furious Five from the state we were in since we started training,"

Po nodded, Mantis was right. "Maybe, I could but…"

"Po," Both Viper and Monkey joined the group. "We should pay you back. We're thankful to have someone such as you for a friend. Where would we be if it wasn't for you?"

"Christmas is about family and happiness, Po," Monkey said. "You're a part of our family, Po. And we all stick together,"

Po smiled. "You guys are right, we could make another soup,"

"Anyone up for the famous 'Secret Ingredient Soup'?" Po asked. He only served that one on special occasions, and today was certainly one of them.

"That's it!" The Five smiled at him.

Po returned the smiles with one of his big grins. "I don't know what I did to get friends like you guys,"

The Five were busy finishing up with setting up decorations in the dining room, while Po and his dad were busy finishing up the soup. Po and his dad each took a spoon and tasted the soup, smacking their lips in thought.

"It needs…," Po thought.

"Garlic!" he and his dad said in unison.

Po hit a spoon and the sliced garlic was launched in the air, his dad caught it with his butcher knife and slid the ingredient into the soup. They took another taste, and nodded in agreement that the food was ready. Taking the soup in both hands, with cloths in his hands, Po walked into the dining room. He set the pot on the dining table and then took in the decorations the Five had set up.

Paper lanterns were hung from the ceiling by a few shuriken, Po smiled. Each one was represented the Five and in the middle was the lantern he had made with his dad when he was a kid. A few candles were lit on the table and bowls were spread out. He took the ladle and poured soup into each bowl, and he smiled as the Five, his dad and Shifu filed into the room. Mr. Ping set the pies he held down onto the table. Everyone smiled back at him, and took their seats. Tigress took one next to Po and his dad on the other side. He smiled at Tigress and then began to eat his soup, until he stopped. He waited till everyone got a slice of pie then…

"Crane, remember what we practiced?" he asked.

Crane nodded.

Po stood up, with a two peaches in his hand. He threw them up in the air and, pulling out three shuriken, he threw those as well. The first two shuriken sliced the peaches in half and the final one sliced through the four halves and became eight quarters. As they fell back down, Crane flapped his wings once and the air he created gently set them on the pieces of pie that everyone had.

Po smiled as everyone voiced their being impressed.

"And how long did it take you to learn that?" Tigress asked, once Po had settled back into his seat.

"Eh, surprisingly, not that long," Po replied.

With the performance done with, everyone settled back to enjoy the rest of dinner. Conversations started here and there, everyone wanting to know what Po's dad thought of the Palace, as it was his first time up here. Then a conversation started of Po's dad talking about a time Po accidentally-

"Alright Dad!" Po said, covering the Goose's mouth. "Enough,"

The Five, even Shifu were snickering, Po silenced them with a glare.

"Mr. Ping," Master Shifu spoke up. "It's been nice seeing you again, it has been a long time since we last played a game of Mahjong,"

"Too long indeed," Po's dad replied.

The clock chimed, and it was ironic that it did. Time was flying by today… literally.

"Midnight," Po said. "What do you say, guys?"

"Go to bed, wait till morning, or open up some presents?" he asked.

Everyone held a thoughtful expression, thinking over it.

"I know we aren't kids anymore," Mantis spoke up. "But I vote for opening the presents,"

Everyone shrugged, probably too excited to sleep.

"Alright," Shifu said.

Po smiled as he put a hat on Shifu's head. It was red with white 'furred' trimming and with a white puff ball on the end of the floppy peak of the hat. Shifu's ears lowered and his eye twitched. Po and the others laughed at his reaction.

"Shifu gets to play 'Akashi'!" Po grinned. **(A/N: Figured that 'Santa' was a bit too plain for this fic,)**

Shifu shook his head and his face smoothed into a smile. "Merry Christmas everyone!"

He handed the Five, excluding Tigress, their presents from Po. Shifu and Mr. Ping began to unwrap their presents. At first Tigress was confused, but…

"Tigress," Po said, trying to swallow the lump in his throat.

She turned to him and he gave her a small black box. Tigress took it from him with shaky hands, her eyes wide. Po looked at the others as they opened their presents and were in awe to their contents, they all looked at Po and their faces spoke volumes. Shifu may have been the most surprised at his present but…

Tigress gasped, causing him and the others to look at her.

"Po…," She whispered. The Dragon Warrior just smiled at her.

She lifted a necklace from the box. Mr. Ping's eyes widened at the necklace, as did everyone else, and then Mr. Ping winked at Po. Tigress examined the necklace, it was 'Yin-Yang' in style. The 'Yin' part was ruby, symbolizing the principle of darkness, negativity, and femininity. The 'Yang' part was sapphire, symbolizing the principle of light, heat, motivation, and masculinity. There was a diamond ebbed into the middle of the necklace, symbolizing that the two things came together to create a good thing.

"It's… It's beautiful," She said. "Where on earth did you get it?"

Po shifted uncomfortably. Tigress looked at him, then she took him by the hand, leading him out of the room. Everyone looked at Shifu, afraid they had crossed the wrong line by leaving the room, especially hand in hand.

"I trust them," he said.

They walked out of the room and out to the Sacred Peach Tree. The full moon shone brightly and cast a pale light over the pair.

"It originally was my mothers," Po answered Tigress' question.

Tigress looked at the piece of jewelry that was now around her neck. She was never going to take it off and was going to take care of it with her life.

"Thank you, Po," She said. "I'll take good care of it,"

She held it in her hand, the moons light reflecting off the jewels. She flipped it over and noticed some writing, she examined it closer to read it.

'_My precious love,'_

Her eyes widened at those words. "Po… this-this writing on the back…"

And before she knew it, she was kissing him! Po was surprised by her sudden action, but made no move to push her away. Tigress must have had the same thoughts, but she had the strength to gently push him away.

"I'm… I'm sorry," She whispered. "I don't know what came over me,"

Po scratched the back of his head. "It's alright, It just caught me off guard,"

"Sorry," She repeated. "Thanks for the necklace, I'm going to guard it with my life,"

She bowed, and began to walk past him…

…Until Po grabbed her arm. He spun her around and kissed her, now it was Tigress' turn to be caught off guard.

But she gave in and kissed him back, her heart told her that this is what she wanted. What she's always wanted.

Their lips parted, Po whispered: "I may be able to replace the necklace, but I could never replace the memories,"

"And I could never replace you," he said. "The Tigress who has captured my heart,"

Tigress just stared at him, and Po waiting for a reply.

"…Are you saying…? What I think you're saying?" she whispered

Po nodded, but his voice tightened. "I love you, Tigress,"

Tigress just stared at the Panda, she did love him back didn't she? Of course she did! She wouldn't have kissed him if she didn't. She opened her mouth to say those words, but her mouth had run dry.

Po shook his head. "I'm sorry if I made our friendship awkward or something, but I-"

"I…" Tigress swallowed. "I... love you too,"

"You do?" Po asked. "I thought for sure-"

"Po, I love you," Tigress said.

She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him, more passionately than before. Po wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her closer, and their lips parted. Tigress rested her head on his shoulder.

"I love Christmas," Po chuckled.

"Me too," Tigress smiled.

"You guys can come out now," Po said aloud.

Out from the bushes, came the rest of the Five, Shifu and Mr. Ping. They all grinned nervously as Po and Tigress broke their embrace to look at them.

"Merry Christmas, you guys," Po smiled at everyone.

They all looked out to the Valley. All the lanterns that hung in the houses below shone with a flickering radiance, everything was so peaceful, hence the name the 'Valley of Peace'. Po looked up at the Peach Tree and the branches swayed in the light icy breeze. A few peach petals broke free and began to fly down into the village, Oogway was watching over them, all of them. The Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom, it always brought people together and he was thankful that it brought him and Tigress together.

He looked at her and smiled.

"Love you," Po smiled, and it felt good to say it to her finally.

Tigress just rested her head on his shoulder, leaning against him. Everything was perfect…

**A/N: Here is my Christmas Special! I MAY write another one for another story, I haven't thought of one yet. Hope you enjoyed this fic! And I promise that I'll update my stories I just have to edit them some more. Cheers! ^-^**


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